In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with the extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings: they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.”
Henry Beston
Nick Cowell
Co Founder of The Elephant Aware Project and the Wildland Conservation Trust, Nick has served as a past Kenya Wildlife Service Honorary game warden and has over 40 years of wildlife experience in conservation focusing on elephant and predator security and anti poaching.
Nick supports policies that benefit Maasai landowners and insists they have the say in conservation of their land. His vision is for Maasai landowners to create and manage their own wildlife conservancies and this belief was the driving force in his co-founding Wildland Conservation Trust and Elephant Aware.
Gini Cowell
Gini has been studying elephants since 2011 in Siana, Masai Mara. She has helped identify and register many elephants in this eco system on the Mara database for elephants.
Gini has taught the Elephant Aware rangers how to identify elephants which is a unique skill for these rangers in the Mara and a very important part of their work in securing elephants.
Gini’s outreach work includes participating in the Kenya Wildlife Service quarterly harmonizing meetings, working in local schools with the team in conservation education classes and taking part in community outreach to help resolve conflict issues and live more peacefully with elephants.
Elephant Aware USA Team.
A non profit 501 c 3 organization based in Boston, MA, USA, Elephant Aware USA, Inc. helps support the work of Elephant Aware Masai Mara in Kenya.
l. to r. Co-Directors of Elephant Aware Masai Mara, Nick Cowell and Elizabeth Cowell. Board of Directors of Elephant Aware USA, David Selden, Therese Desmond, Gini Cowell, Dr. Andrea Zeren and Dr. James Katz
Will Cowell
Will is the head of security at Elephant Aware and coordinates the daily Elephant Aware Ranger patrols. He attends all elephant conflict incidents with the team to find safe and peaceful solutions to Elephant problems.
Will organizes the Ranger schedule and field work in our two ranger bases in the Siana Conservation Area. Will is vastly experienced in anti poaching and understands what it takes in an expansive area like this to secure elephants and other wildlife with the Ranger team.
Simpai Lepore
Simpai is our Community Liaison Officer from the Siana Community.
He, together with the other Rangers, coordinate with Kenya Wildlife Service personnel. He attends community meetings and initiates elephant/ human conflict prevention strategies to help mitigate and achieve a peaceful outcome.
Simpai is very experienced in community relations and has worked with Elephant Aware for many years.
He is a shareholder and landowner in the Siana Conservation Area (SCA). He is also part of the Elephant Aware intelligence team which works to expose and deter any wildlife crime.
Dr. Willie Nyambat
Willie plays an important role as the project Chairman and attends meetings in Nairobi on Elephant Aware’s behalf. With a PhD, and Masters Degree in Demography coupled with several professional trainings and varied experiences (Donors, NGOs, Government of Kenya etc), Dr. Nyambati has a strong background in health/population management, programming and operations, and would make a valuable contribution to any organization. Current Chairman and Member of several Non-Governmental Organizations. Worked for several Kenya government ministries and departments. This has resulted to extensive network build within the current government of Kenya ministries and departments.
Elizabeth Milner
Elizabeth Milner, Co Founder of Elephant Aware, is a committed, respected conservationist who has lived in a tented conservation camp in the Masai Mara for over 12 years. She works with the Siana community on unique methods and systems to enable them to live safer lives with Elephants. Elizabeth contributes enormous amounts of photographic data and field observations which plays a role in preventing conflict, provides valuable insight into the lives of the elephant population and enables our team to better protect elephants. She is a participating team member of the Kenya Wildlife Service National MIKE (Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants) harmonizing quarterly meetings of conservation groups across Kenya which collaborate on prevention strategies and accurate recording of elephant mortalities.
Elizabeth works closely with women’s groups through our ‘Living With Elephants’ programme and supports the education of disadvantaged Maasai girls to ensure equal opportunities and give these young women a voice in their own future.
Siranka Lesisa
Siranka Lesisa is a senior Ranger at Elephant Aware. He has worked as a Ranger for 9 years and has extensive experience in anti poaching operations and wildlife monitoring. He was part of the team during two high profile cases, and working jointly with KWS, apprehended poachers. Siranka is a very experienced and an invaluable Ranger on our team.
Our Partners.
Elephant Aware is grateful for the support of our Partners, some of whom are listed below.
Future for Elephants.
Mara Siana Conservancy
http://www.facebook.com/MaraSianaConservancy/